


Better Than Pizza Money Pt. 2

by writerstrash



Series: Mr. Stark & His Kid [10]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Irondad, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, soft, spideyson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2019-12-12
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:33:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21593101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writerstrash/pseuds/writerstrash
Summary: Peter stays the night at Stark Tower with Tony and Pepper.
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Mr. Stark & His Kid [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1402432
Comments: 2
Kudos: 183





	Better Than Pizza Money Pt. 2

"Wow, Ms Potts this looks amazing," Peter gasped, eyes widening at the amount of food placed over the dining table.

Pepper grinned, setting down a dish of roast potatoes and carrots. It smelled so warm and comforting and delicious, and it looked like every family dinner table that Peter saw in movies. 

"Peter, I get Ms Potts all day at work," Pepper sighed, a fond smile on her lips. "Call me Pepper, okay?"

"Pepper," the boy nodded. "I can do that,"

Tony grinned between the two of them. Pepper and Peter had met quite briefly only a handful of times, but they both knew so much about one another. Peter had grown up watching Stark Industries business all over television and had watched Pepper rise to CEO of the company. The woman was used as an example in Peter's business class. He admired her a lot. Even more, especially, because of how fondly Tony spoke of her. 

This was the woman who held the man together. The woman who could run a company, make bad press disappear and sue the ass off nosy journalists. Tony had always described Pepper was the most powerful person in any room, including himself. Including Iron Man. And Peter didn't doubt it.

Pepper, on the other hand, knew everything about Peter through Tony alone. She knew just how much Tony cared about this boy, despite his 'just a mentor' argument each time she would bring it up. Tony needed Peter more than he knew, and Pepper could see just how lucky they were to find each other. 

"There's a lot of food, so eat up," Pepper told them, taking her seat.

"Believe me Pep, this is gonna be _gone_ by the time Peter is finished," Tony assured.

"I heard about the appetite," Pepper laughed, watching as the boy's cheeks flushed red. "I'm just happy you'll be filling up on this rather than fast food,"

"Y-you made all this for me?" Peter asked. 

"It was no trouble," the woman smiled. "I like cooking, and this time I was able to cook for more than just two people. It's nice to have people at the dining table, you know? Makes this place feel a little more like a home. It's nice to actually _sit_ at the table too instead of eating on the couch with a stack of paperwork,"

Tony's heart fluttered at her words. Having Peter here made it feel like a home. A smiling kid, digging into a plate full of food, nerdy socks on his feet and messy hair on his head. Comfortable. Peaceful. _Home._

"You didn't have to do all this for me. Really, I eat anything,"

"I can vouch for that, too. I've seen you eat some questionable stuff, kid."

"I just mean...I know you're so busy..." he trailed off, nervous.

"I can take an afternoon off," Pepper assured. "Perks of running the place, right? I wanted you to come by for dinner yesterday, so I had everything ready to cook,"

"Yesterday?" Peter asked, quite surprised. "You wanted me over?"

"Yeah, Tony told me your aunt was away and we've been meaning to have you over for weeks. Tony didn't ask, did he?"

Peter turned to his mentor, watching as Tony gulped down a large glass of water and ignored the eyes on him.

"No, h-he didn't mention it,"

"He's a nervous host," Pepper rolled her eyes. "Would you believe it?"

"I'm not a nervous host," Tony argued.

"Not from all the parties that I used to see on the news," Peter shook his head, looking to Pepper.

"I'm not a nervous host," Tony repeated.

"Oh yeah, he was probably freaking out for a good two hours before anyone showed up to those things and he wasn't even there yet," Pepper laughed. "He liked to show up late, especially to his own parties,"

"Really?" Peter laughed. "No way,"

"He usually didn't stay for them either," 

Peter turned to Tony.

"You threw parties at your own house and left?" 

Tony shrugged, stabbing his carrots with his fork mindlessly. 

"All part of the show, right? Gotta play the part," Tony winked. "What's the point of a big house if you can't fill it with strangers?"

Pepper rolled her eyes, taking a sip of her wine and watching as Peter laughed. She could see why Tony was so fond of this teenager. His laugh and his smile were unlike any other.

"Is that why you live here now?" Peter asked. "Not so big, you don't have to throw so many parties,"

"Sure," Tony shrugged. "Smaller place means I can fill it with people I actually like instead,"

Peter grinned. That meant _he_ was one of those people Tony liked. 

"Even if they do eat all my food, kick their shoes off in the middle of the room, leave their homework all over the place-"

"It sounds like you're describing yourself, Tony," Pepper laughed.

"I don't leave my homework all over the place!"

"I found physics notes next to the _toilet_ the other day," Tony pointed out. 

"Maybe they were yours," Peter smirked.

"Pepper, is this what it's like to deal with all teenagers?" the man asked. "Or did I just get a bratty one?"

* * *

Once Peter had finished off the last of dinner (with encouragement from both Pepper and Tony), they moved into the living room to fight off the urge to fall into a food-coma. Pepper had gone to run herself a bath and relax for a while, soaking up her work-free night while the boys readied themselves for some Lego building. 

"What's for dessert?" Peter wondered.

Tony looked over to him from where he lounged on the couch, his eyes wide.

"You're kidding, right?"

"You said...we were gonna have dessert?" 

"You just finished off a family-sized meal ten minutes ago. Aren't you full?"

"Full of _dinner_ , yeah. But there's always room for dessert," 

Tony rolled his eyes and shook his head in genuine surprise. The amount of food that Peter ate was astounding considering how slim he remained. Tony actually thought he could use to gain a few pounds, and he knew that with Peter's metabolism he really did need to eat a lot more than an average teenager. Whenever he visited the tower, Tony always had snacks ready for him, and he made sure that Peter was eating before and after his patrols. 

Maybe he did have some dad-like tendencies toward the kid, but he would never admit to it.

"We'll hit the ice cream in a bit," Tony assured. "Now go get your Lego kit, we're starting this thing now,"

It was in that moment that Tony was reminded of Peter's innocence. The look of pure excitement on his face as he rushed off to collect the box from the guest room - _Peter's_ room - made Tony feel all warm inside. Despite swinging between buildings throughout New York during the day, fighting bad guys, having powers that made him stronger than Tony and a few of the Avengers, and despite his insistence that he was not, Peter was still a child. 

A goofy, nerdy, loveable child.

Someone who Tony never would have expected to feel so fondly about. Someone who, today, he would give up every plan he had to spend the evening inside eating ice cream and building Lego and watching _Star Wars_ with. 

"Are we going to watch the movie while we make it?" Peter asked, rushing back into the room. 

Tony noticed that in the mere minute that Peter had left, he had changed himself into pyjamas and seemed ready to stay in the living room for the rest of the night. Tony felt that smile creeping back onto his face, staring up at the boy stupidly.

Peter felt his mentors eyes on him, and he looked down shyly at his sweatpants. 

"I uh, I probably still have pizza crumbs on these-"

"You beat me to it," Tony shook his head. "I was just about to throw mine on too. How about you get the movie ready while I do that? I'll grab the ice cream on the way back."

All of Peter's self-doubt faded away.

"Awesome," he nodded. "I'll get everything ready, and then I'll give you a quick rundown of the characters, okay? I won't be annoying, I promise, just enough that you know what's going on,"

Tony agreed with a laugh and disappeared to his room, trying to be as quick as possible. When he walked inside, he saw Pepper lounging on the bed, wrapped up in her towel, reading a book. She looked so peaceful. Tony's heart was immediately full. Two of the most important people in his life were here with him, both happy and safe and loved.

"Looks like that bath was a good choice," Tony smiled, moving over to press a soft kiss to her lips.

"Mm," Pepper sighed. "I'm not gonna be awake much longer,"

"Good, you deserve to catch up on some sleep," 

"You two okay out there?"

Tony grinned.

"About to build the hell out of some Lego. Jealous?"

Pepper smiled sleepily.

"I like you with him,"

"He's a good kid,"

"He is," she agreed. "And he loves you almost as much as I do,"

Tony took a moment for that, unable to come up with words. Peter loved him. He knew that, right? In all the little things they did together. Tony was like a...like a...

"Don't think too much on it," Pepper cut off his thoughts. "He's waiting for you,"

Nodding, Tony reached out to run his thumb over Pepper's cheek softly before he jumped back up and searched for his pyjamas. 

When he made it back out to the living room, Peter had the movie paused at the very beginning, waiting for the man to return. He smiled at both Tony and the pint of ice cream in his hands, then gestured down to the coffee table which he had cleared to make room for the Lego pieces. 

"I get it if this is too nerdy for you," Peter laughed shyly.

"Shockingly, I thought this would be much more nerdy," Tony shook his head. "So, let's go through the character need-to-know stuff, yeah? Won't have time to talk when I'm kicking your ass with this assembly,"

Peter rolled his eyes, sitting himself down and accepting one of the spoons from Tony.

"You won't have time to kick my ass, you're gonna be so into this movie," Peter argued. "Where I've seen it hundreds of times,"

"And yet you always pay attention to the whole thing, every time it's on," the man countered. "I've seen you watching it, kid."

"Doesn't matter, I'm gonna have this thing build before you even look at the instructions,"

Tony laughed, tossing the piece of paper away.

"Pros don't need them,"

"Well if you haven't seen the movie, how do you know what you're building?"

Tony turned to Peter, enjoying the playful banter of the kid's voice and how genuinely happy he was.

"Pete, I'm _that_ good,"

* * *

It was almost midnight when Peter was officially passed out against Tony's chest. After assembling - then taking apart due to faults and rebuilding again - the Falcon, finishing off the ice cream and beginning the last movie in the instalment, they moved themselves up onto the spacious couch. They kicked their legs out and rested against the unnecessary amount of pillows around them, letting out deep sighs and yawns. 

"Sleepy?" Tony had asked.

"No," Peter denied, although his voice was so quiet and his eyes were half-closed.

"Want to head to bed?" 

"No," the boy argued immediately. "Movie..."

"Right, 'cause you've _never_ seen this one before," Tony rolled his eyes. "Peter, we can watch it tomorrow buddy-"

"No, wanna stay," 

Tony didn't push any further. Maybe it was because he didn't want to irritate Peter and finish their night with a bad mood. Maybe he didn't want to disturb Peter's obvious calm and comfort. Maybe he knew that Peter needed to sleep and let the movie play to fight away any nightmares. Or maybe, really, it was because Tony wanted to stay too. 

With Peter's warmth and weight against his chest, Tony's eyes slowly drooped shut. 

When Pepper woke up the next morning, she couldn't help swooning at the sight. Peter had his arms wrapped around Tony's middle, face buried in his chest, as Tony held him close and protectively. She quietly wandered over and pulled the blanket that had fallen to the floor back over them, whispering for Friday to shut off the movie and close the windows, shielding them from the morning light that would be otherwise peeking through any moment.

Yes, Tony was good for Peter, and Peter was good for Tony.

**Author's Note:**

> As usual, leave any prompts/suggestions in the comments and I will get to them in coming chapters. Thank you!


End file.
